Our well-beloved and respected Professor Lin Pin-wen,
superintendent of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital,
passed away on November 5th, 2012. I was appointed the
next day by Professor Huang Huang-hui, NCKU President, as Acting
Superintendent in addition to my position of Deputy Superintendent
supervising medical administration. Even though my three years’
experience working as an assistant to Professor Lin familiarized me
with both the institutional business and the day-to-day healthcare
operations, obtaining the superintendency at a time like this is a
daunting call of duty that I am going to answer with utter
sincerity, and with an aim to keep the Hospital moving steadily
toward a better future.

NCKU Hospital is the medical facility to which
Professor Lin dedicated his entire career, as well as a place where
colleagues bond with each other like a family. It is our
responsibility to turn our memories of Professor Lin into actions
that brings the Hospital to a higher level. Inspired by Professor
Lin’s unstoppable devotion to those stricken with illness, to
patient care, and to the Hospital, which he considered as his second
home, our current priorities and the beliefs are stated as follows:

I am hereby asking the entire staff to make
all-out preparations for the upcoming hospital accreditation review,
in order to attain the best performance. What makes
hospital accreditation, a tool and a process of external peer
assessment, so significant and valuable is that it enables hospitals
to conduct internal restructuring in the pursuit of improvement.
Preparing for an accreditation review is a process of
self-improvement, through which a hospital re-examines and
re-assesses every detail of its structure, processes and outcomes
genuinely. Moreover, management, patient care, medical education and
research programs shall be enhanced with greater effectiveness.

2.
Strengthening the NCKU healthcare system with extensive
recruitment and intensive training efforts:

NCKU Hospital expanded into the Yunlin and Chiayi
areas years ago with the ambition to serve society on a broader
scale, with people in both regions offered national university-level
services by its Douliu branch. Meanwhile, its partnership with
Tainan Hospital has led to better, more efficient healthcare
services not only through a close-knit, resource-sharing community,
but also a re-engineering plan that adds simplicity and
accessibility to the service processes. Such an inter-hospital
collaboration initiative, combined with a two-way referral system,
ensures patients the most proper medical attention that satisfies
their needs. In 2013, we plan to
strengthen our services, both quality and quantity-wise, and expand
recruitment and training efforts to create a win-win situation for
both the patients and the Hospitals.

3.
Pursuing excellence as a national university-affiliated
hospital through continuously improved medical education and
research programs:

The equal emphasis on education,
research and services is among NCKU Hospital’s founding
principles, as well as the inherent strength of a national
university-affiliated hospital. With a heritage passed down from our
previous superintendents, we are considered Taiwan’s best teaching
hospital as a result of the exceptional quality of medical
education. Under Professor Lin’s leadership over the past three
years, NCKU Medical Center has a remarkable expansion in research
capacity with the support from NCKU and its medical college. It is
increasingly well-equipped with funding and incentive measures
offered by the
National Science Council, as well as by
the Department of Health, to encourage research efforts among the
staff, as evidenced by the core research laboratory established
using external resources. I will follow in my predecessors’
footsteps to offer fine-quality patient care based on the foundation
of our education and research results.

4.
Promoting sustainable growth from the provision of heartfelt
services and gaining the public’s trust:

While technological advances leading to an
ever-changing healthcare landscape that drives up the general
public’s expectations for physicians, medical practices in Taiwan
are becoming more complex under the National Health Insurance
framework. Changes in the external circumstances, however, do not
change the fact that medical care involves professional healthcare
solutions offered on an interpersonal basis in its nature. In other
words, the primary duty of medical workers is more than just
treating physical disorders; it is providing patients with the best
possible services and giving them a sense of security by resolving
doubts. In a persistent commitment to carrying out social
responsibility, we shall always provide top-quality medical services
to those who place their health and trust in our hands.

For 23 years, NCKU Hospital has thrived under the
dedications, contributions and efforts of its wholehearted staff, and gained a considerable number of international accolades.
We never failed to stay open-minded about criticism, which serves as
a driving force for further improvement. I firmly believe that
winning the general public’s trust has been, and
always will be, what spurs our
hospital to success.

Last but not least, I would like to thank
all members of this big family for your efforts. I welcome
your opinions, positive or negative, in order to achieve a brighter
future.